Hungary

Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Paul Lendvai

Description

How has Hungary, a country once in the vanguard of political and economic reform under Communism, become a chilling example of the new threats confronting democracy in Central Europe? The return of Hungary's demons of the past--nationalism, ethnic hatred, deeply-rooted corruption and authoritarian tendencies--has engendered international concern. Since winning a two-thirds majority in parliament in the spring of 2010, the dynamic right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has embarked on a sweeping and ruthless concentration of power and has sought to reshape the state in his own image.

A new constitution and a sweeping series of laws and decrees--radical changes in the judicial and electoral system and the dismantling of constitutional safeguards
ensuring the autonomy of the executive branch and the freedom of the media--seem destined to ensure a long-term hegemony of the far right. Meanwhile a campaign of vituperative nationalist rhetoric and the granting of voting rights to 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries are bound to increase tensions in this volatile corner of Europe.

Lendvai offers readers an unsparing and dispassionate account, based on his intimate personal knowledge of Hungary's major political figures and its political culture, of the turbulent events since the collapse of the Communist regime which affect not only Hungary, but also the political and economic stability of the Danube basin.

Hungary

Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Paul Lendvai

Table of Contents

1. A Funeral as the End and the Beginning2. A Half-Hearted Change3. József Antall--A Political Phenomenon 4. The Roots of Hungarian Anti-Semitism 5. Gyula Horn and the Return of the Post-Communists 6. The Young Comet--Viktor Orbán 7. The Medgyessy Puzzle or the End of a Deception 8. The Sense of Mission of an Easily Seducible Nation 9. The Splendour and Decline of Ferenc Gyurcsány 10. The Power of the Discreet Press Barons 11. Cold War at the Top--Orbán Versus Gyurcsány 12. The Roma and Jews--Targets of the Extreme Right 13. The Political Suicide of the Left 14. Orbán Über Alles--Hungary at a Dead End

Hungary

Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Paul Lendvai

Author Information

Paul Lendvai is a Hungarian-born Austrian journalist who worked as a correspondent for the Financial Times for more than two decades. His prize-winning memoir, Blacklisted: A Journalist's Life in Central Europe, boldly takes stock of the ethnic hatred, political turbulence, and murderous anti-Semitism of twentieth-century Central Europe.

Hungary

Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Paul Lendvai

Reviews and Awards

"The case against Orbán is set out with great passion in this convincing indictment of the most powerful political figure in the eastern EU...This is gloves-off political writing at its best."--The Financial Times

"Lendvai, a Hungarian-born veteran Austrian journalist, paints a discouraging picture of Hungary. For those who assume that the country, safely sheltered in the European Union and NATO, is well on the way to democratic stability and western European-style liberalism, this book will come as a bit of a shock. In Lendvai's eyes, the wilful, power-hungry Orbán has evolved from a dynamic leader into a calculating nationalist bent on closing off democratic options and ready to exploit anti-Semitism and anti-Roma sentiment. Although Lendvai's indictment is sharpest against Hungary's current leader, he makes plain that the corruption and economic recklessness of earlier governments did their part to bring about the country's degradation. Not surprisingly, Lendvai's assessment has
kicked up more than a little dust in Hungary."--Foreign Affairs

"Lendvai is one of the grand old men of Central European journalism...but never before has one of his titles provoked such fierce reactions from the powers that be."--Paul Hockenos, The Boston Review